Indonesia's Merukh raises stake in Newmont unit

Reuters, Fitri Wulandari, Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:14am EDT

JAKARTA, March 30 (Reuters) - One of Indonesia's leading mining executives, Yusuf Merukh, has lifted his stake in Newmont Mining Corp's (NEM.N) Indonesian unit to 27 percent from 20 percent, paying $427 million for the shares, he said on Monday.

The purchase by Merukh's privately owned company PT Pukuafu Indah is part of a divestment of shares in PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT), which operates the Batu Hijau copper and gold mine in eastern Indonesia.

Newmont and Sumitomo Corp (8053.T) own 45 percent and 35 percent respectively of Newmont Nusa Tenggara but under the terms of their mining contract must complete the sale of a 51 percent stake in the company to local investors by 2010.

A 20 percent stake has already been sold to PT Pukuafu Indah and Newmont has agreed to sell a 31 percent stake gradually by 2010.

Newmont also offered to sell a 7 percent stake, valued at $348 million, to the Indonesian government this year, Merukh said.

Merukh's comments came as various shareholders await an announcement by an arbitration court in Indonesia over a previous share sale by Newmont in its unit.

Newmont began offering to sell its shares in NNT in 2006, initially offering 3 percent for $109 million. The following year it offered 7 percent worth $282 million. Indonesia's finance ministry was given the right of first refusal.

However, the government said the share sales could not go ahead because Newmont had missed a deadline to complete the deals.

In February 2008, the energy ministry threatened to annul NNT's contract of work, saying it had not sold its shares in time to local investors. But Newmont said it had sold a 2 percent stake to the Sumbawa local government in January 2008.

Both the government and Newmont filed cases against each other in the arbitration court in March 2008 after talks between both parties on the divestment collapsed. The arbitration court is due to announce its ruling on March 31.

The Newmont case has attracted considerable attention from foreign investors and international mining firms, providing yet another example of a conflict between the Indonesian government and a foreign party over ownership of the country's resources.

Indonesia hosts international resource firms including Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold (FCX.N) but has struggled to get big new foreign investment in recent years, largely due to uncertainty over the mining laws. (Editing by Sara Webb and David Holmes)